ACADEMY REPORT| Young Exiles secure a fantastic win over Swindon Town

Our U18’s picked up their second win of the season on Saturday, beating an in-form Swindon side 3-1 at Lliswerry School.

Goals from Joe Hunt, Tom Hillman and Lucas Murray helped the Young Exiles to victory on Saturday 21st October.

Before the match had started, Jay Foulston unfortunately picked up a knock whilst warming up and was ruled out of the game. Jay wasn’t risked for precautionary reasons and isn’t expected to miss any further matches.

The game started with both sides struggling to adapt to the horrible conditions, with neither side finding an opening in the first ten minutes.

Tom Hillman would create the game’s first real chance, with his shot across goal threatening the keeper, but drifting just wide of the post in the 12th minute.

County then took the initiative in the game, with Tom Hillman continuing to cause Swindon problems on the left. His next chance was almost identical to the previous one, drifting just wide of the goal in the 17th minute.

Michael Cook could have scored the opener in the 29th minute, but the conditions played a part in proceedings and Cook slipped before he could get his shot away.

Byron Anthony’s side then called upon ‘keeper Callum Brain four minutes later, after some poor defending allowed Swindon to shoot from point-blank range. Despite this, Brain made a brilliant save to keep the scores level.

Suddenly, Lucas Murray found himself with a free-header inside the box after being picked out with a brilliant delivery into the box. The defender made no mistake in calmly heading home past Swindon goalkeeper Archie Matthews in the 36th minute.

The Young Exiles went into half-time 1-0 up.

The Robins started the second-half much better and looked threatening on the counter-attack. The Young Exiles neutralized their threat however, defending magnificently in the opening five minutes.

Ten minutes later, manager Byron Anthony decided to bring off Liam Bishop and Michael Cook for Liam Warman and Josh Williams as they looked to find a second goal.

Instantly after the substitutions, Callum Brain was called into action again, making another brilliant save to keep his side in the hunt for all three points.

Liam Warman then picked up a free-kick on the far right in the 77th minute after being fouled on the byline, which meant Joe Hunt stepped up to take the set-piece from 35 yards-out.

The full-back brilliantly curled the ball into the box – but with some help from Storm Brian, his free-kick drifted into the back of the net, making it 2-1 after 78 minutes.

The away side then desperately tried to snatch a point, but couldn’t create any major chances. They were handed a final opportunity after the referee had indicated that four minutes additional time would be played.

Instead, the Young Exiles capitalized on a mistake from a Swindon’s goalkeeper Matthews - who slipped in the 94th minute, allowing Tom Hillman to finish into an empty net, sealing a brilliant victory for the Young Exiles at Lliswerry School.